Oyster Farmer

Saw this movie over the weekend in New York at the Quad Cinema.

One if the best movies to come out of Australia, period. I highly recommend seeing this film. Visually stunning, without being overwhelming, or detracting from the storyline. With the gorgeous Hawkesbury River as her backdrop, Reeves weaves characters vividly to life with the pithy little concerns and subtleties that are so crucial in a movie so delicate. The script is tight and beautifully executed. Compared to other feature directorial debuts this is an incredible piece. As a stand alone work, I think this movie will be looked back on as the beginning of an Australian legacy. Bravo. I hope to see much more from this very talented director.

Oyster Farmer is a curious Australian movie in that its production values are more impressive than the story itself. First and foremost, the music throughout the movie is brilliant in that it suits the movie perfectly. The cinematography is likewise first class - the aerial scenes of the Hawkesbury River in particular are stunning. Also, the editing is tight and keeps the movie from bogging down - the editor and director deserve commendation for keeping the movie flowing.

The story itself is quirky and sometimes makes quantum leaps in credibility but, hey, what interesting movie doesn't? The acting is believable and allows you to understand the characters in most cases.

As a simple tale of life in a remote river community, the movie works quite well and deserves its reputation as a significant Australian film. Not great, but quite good.

I think this is a lovely movie, which portrays the shellfish industry in an 'as it is' warts and all manner, more usually attributed to documentaries than to movies. The location is great and beautiful in a run down, natural, kind of way. You can tell that the film makers just used the natural fabric of the place rather than tried to build a set. The river is shown in all its glory and the love story itself is very well done.

Having worked in the shellfish industry in the UK I could easily relate to the roughish characters portrayed here.

Well Done.

mark

"Oyster Farmer" is a refreshing story that gives an insight into a few of the many characters scattered throughout the country. Though the story line is far from spectacular, it in engrossing with the ordinariness of people trying to eke out a living in a cut throat business. The interplay between the characters enriches the plot as one couple oppose each other, a wanderer carries robs an armoured car to pay off a debt and a group of Vietnam veterans make a life away from a world that has rejected. There are other interesting characters who also intertwine the plot with their affairs and dealings. Really, this film has no pretenses. The scenery is just so typical of a great waterway as are depictions of the life style of its people.

I hope Anna Reevs, the director as well as the writer, takes justified pride in this amazingly wonderful first effort. Because of its class I was surprised to see that it was her debut film-how many others would dream of writing and directing such a superb first effort.

I saw this film several days ago in Fremantle and although I had heard from electronic media outlets that it was a very good film, I had no idea, other than the obvious title what I was going to see. The beauty of the Hawksbury was breathtaking and the juxtaposition of that beauty with the basic everyday existence of the oyster farmers presented a compelling contradiction throughout the film.

Maybe it's the technical strides that have taken place during the recent past but I am swallowed by the beauty of the cinematography; I am sure Bollinger whose camera work captured every nuance of the natural beauty of this region would tell me that it was his and Reeves' direction that captured the setting and that it had nothing to do with improvements in equipment. Be that as it may, the camera images were beautiful.

The actors were on the whole unknown to me but the work they did made a life unknown to me real and more importantly, eminently worth watching. An absolute gem of a movie not to be missed.